Tom Brevoort explains why Northstar marriage will last

The Marvel Comics executive editor was asked on Formspring whether there was hypocrisy in abolishing Spider-Man's married life while introducing the new nuptials, reports The Beat.

"The marriage of Peter [Parker] and [Mary Jane] felt far less forced or sudden," said the questioner.

"No, because different characters require different things," said Brevoort.

"This is similar to arguing that it's unfair that Reed Richards is so smart - that works for his character, but wouldn't work as well for, say, Ben Grimm. Different character.

"Also, and take this from somebody who was there as a reader and watched it happen, the marriage of Peter and MJ was absolutely as forced and sudden, probably more so. It's just had the advantage of having been a status quo for so long that a lot of readers grew up with it and accepted it.

"We've never said that no characters should be married. The point is that Spider-Man, the most popular youth-based character in the entertainment world, probably shouldn't be married."

Astonishing X-Men #50 saw X-Man Northstar propose to his boyfriend Kyle. The pair will be married in issue #51.

Spider-Man's marriage was controversially undone by the demon Mephisto in 2007.